Fanstorm

On 4/4/2023 at 1:14 PM, Alaskan_Son said:

I know I might be sounding harsh, but it’s totally clear that you either don’t understand the geometry very well yourself, or that you don’t know how to use the tools properly. I can both draw and maintain every single thing you’ve described completely in chief, without any problem whatsoever.  
 

The fact you mentioned having to go into “engineering, CAD” to figure out what you needed makes it clear that you don’t know how to use the basic tools 

 

Here are a few tools and methods you really might want to familiarize yourself with:

1.  Making sure that you were selecting the appropriate wall before changing a dimension.
2.  Making sure you are activating the correct Move/Resize mode when actually clicking on a dimension to change it.

3.  Making sure to select the appropriate Lock Setting when changing a length in an object’s dialog box.

4.  Making sure to GROUP select before rotating when appropriate.

5.  Using the Rotate/Resize About Current Point Edit Mode (along with a Temporary Point) if necessary.

6.  Using Angular Dimensions to rotate objects

7.  This one is more of a trick then it is a proper tool, but you can also place a short, perpendicular section of a Room Divider wall that intersects right where you want your break in order to help keep a wall from moving on you.  
it should be noted, however, that this should almost never be necessary for any of what you’ve described above.  It’s just a somewhat related trick that’s good to be aware of.  
8.  As was already stated by several of us above… Use CAD tools when necessary. You can’t claim there’s something inherently wrong with the software just because you either refused to use the appropriate tools or just didn’t know how to.  This is especially true if you are going into another software and using the same tools over there because you claim chief can’t do it.  In particular, you can use the circle tool to find intersections of various lengths to make your geometry problem solving really quick.  You can also use temporary lines, Construction Lines, the Stretch CAD tool.

9.  Using Point to Point Move when appropriate.

9.  Using the Make Parallel/Perpendicular tool

10.  Using the Enter Coordinates dialog 

….

 

I could go all day. I assure you that everything you’ve described is completely possible to manage inside of Chief though.  I’d like to kindly suggest you consider investing in some training sessions with a good coach if you find yourself struggling with this kind of thing, because truthfully….many of us don’t have any problem with these scenarios.  

 

Thank you for your advice, sounds like you know Chief inside out,  I know I am not that crash hot with all the items you mention but really all I want is to double click on the wall I have put in and it opens the wall specification dialog box and it has a tick box "Lock wall" and that’s it, nothing more,

The wall stays where I placed it at and at the length I made it
Really just super simple and without having to use CAD, angular dimensions and all the lovely things you have pointed out which can be done in Chief.

No coaching, no watching tutorials, no clicking on other parts of Chief to do such a simple thing.as double click on the line up pos the wall dialog box and it has a tick box "Lock line", quick simple and done! then when I untick the dialog box, full Chief functionality is restored.

I am quite sure such a simple thing as "lock wall" would be appreciated by most without having to go through a learning curve to understand all the functionality of Chief to achieve such a basic thing as locking a wall in a location because that is where you want it.

I will of course follow your suggestions, check the parts you have pointed out, also spend a few more hours trying to nut out how to get what I want but in all honesty it should not be necessary, all for the sake of a simple tick box in the wall specification dialog box. 

I really just want to lock a wall in place to the length I want and it will not move it stays there at length  and location I set.

It still will have provision for me to change its length or rotate it it suit my drawing but it stays where I put it.

If needs be it has to be auto re-aligned then a tick box to say AUTO align and it will detect any ajoining walls and connet to them if I tick yes JOIN

This has been my problem everytime i go to use Chief I cannot draw my wall, lock it in place and carry on then when I get the walls in place  I can see if I messed up as I have gaps and mis-alignments in my walls.

I am trying to use Chief to layout a warehouse complex and show the pallet racking as well and ever time I adust a dimension it changes all my racks so I have to re align them again.

You can say "Chief" is not designed to do that work use a CAD program, but it actually is great to do this work if only I could lock my rack dimensions I would save a lot of time readjustng their sizes, I do get the jobs done and Chief copes really well but line locking would be like the icing on the cake.
Locking walls would make this so much better to use and I feel more user freindly